Generalized Calabi-Yau manifolds

Abstract

A geometrical structure on even-dimensional manifolds is defined which generalizes the notion of a Calabi-Yau manifold and also a symplectic manifold. Such structures are of either odd or even type and can be transformed by the action of both diffeomorphisms and closed 2-forms. In the special case of six dimensions we characterize them as critical points of a natural variational problem on closed forms, and prove that a local moduli space is provided by an open set in either the odd or even cohomology.